Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Downloading SQL Server Compact 3.5 SP2 for Devices

A number of developers are still, in 2017, developing new solutions for Windows CE / Windows Mobile using Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server Compact 3.5 SP2. Unfortunately, Microsoft has removed the official download of the SQL CE 3.5 SP2 package for devices, which contains the cab files for installing the SQL CE runtime on various processor flavors of Windows CE / Windows Mobile and also contains a cab file for installing a System.Data.SqlClient (ADO.NET provider for SQL Server), that allows you to access SQL Server directly from a Windows Mobile device.

In this blog post I will describe the steps required to get the Device MSI installed on your development PC. Luckily, it is still currently possible to request the latest updates/hotfixes of the 3.5 SP2 runtime – I have a comprehensive list here.

We can take advantage of the fact, that each “patch” is essentailly a full release of all applicable packages, and that build 8109 is a full re-release of all possible packages.

7 comments:

Thanks so much for this post! Unfortunately, the 8109 hotfix page (ttps://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2860310) no longer provides the SSCEDeviceRuntime-enu.msi! It only provides the SSCERuntime-ENU.msi and one for Server Tools.

Do you know where I can get a copy of the SSCEDeviceRuntime-ENU.msi that is for version 3.5 SP2??

Dear Erik, thank you for your post. It's being very useful. However, I got the "sql ce" files copied in my Motorola MC3190 barcode reader with a Windows CE 6.0, and it says that the .cab file is not a valid Windows CE Setup file, when executing. Any idea? I also would like to ask if you have where to download NET Framework for Windows CE? Thanks!